


A Defective Circuit

by FanFicBias



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Badass, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexuality, Cyborgs, F/F, Female Relationships, Interspecies Relationship(s), Non-Canon Relationship, POV Female Character, Past Abuse, Psychic Abilities, Psychic Violence, Psychological Trauma, Self-Defense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:42:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22112788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanFicBias/pseuds/FanFicBias
Summary: Seven has an unpleasant encounter in the cargo bay, and Kes comes across the scene, leading to a deepening of their connection. (Set at a future point in The Laying Down the Oar series).
Relationships: Kes/Seven of Nine
Kudos: 10





	A Defective Circuit

“Then tear the skin from your limb as you would a defective circuit.”  
-Borg Queen, to Data (First Contact)

Seven finished her sonic shower using the extra facility set into her part of the cargo bay. Noticing how others became uncomfortable seeing her in various stages of undress, she had simply moved some of the more permanent containers around the shower. Her cycle didn’t always remove all dirt that sometimes accumulated on her throughout the day, so she found this to be necessary in order to continue to strive for perfection.

Going through her usual routine, Seven removed her outer protective skin-like layer, with the black and grey coloration and the ribs, as it was safe to do so for a few moments before entering her regeneration cycle.

She let the sonic shower play over her body, to remove any excess dirt.

Suddenly, there was a noise as Seven heard a number of people entering the cargo bay.

“OK gentlemen,” A voice said. “The lady Janeway has said we can choose an equal amount of goods from this cargo bay, presumably from this pile right here!” 

Two other voices responded, making it clear that they were the Talaxian traders Seven had heard Janeway talking about, trading their extra parts and food for surplus supplies that existed in this cargo bay.

As Seven recalled, they weren’t supposed to come until another crewmember could meet them in 15 minutes. Seven would say something to them; however, she was busy with her cleaning. Besides, she reasoned, the crew member would show up eventually, and handle the situation.

Therefore, Seven ignored them and continued her shower.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t go outside of the pile, eh? Who doesn’t love a good haggle! I bet we can find some even better stuff around here somewhere! Did you see how much she wanted that fresh fruit we had?! We could get something even better than this pile, I’m sure of it.”

“They did tell us to wait a few more minutes until someone met us here,” A third voice said, somewhat concerned.

“Oh please, we’re traders! We made an agreement! We’re fine. Go on, go on. Spread out! Let’s see what else they got!”

Seven continued to ignore the sound and began to reach the end of her shower, ensuring she was completely clean before regenerating.

“Do you hear that? That noise? What is that?”

“Oh, I’ve heard about this. See? You can kind of see the unit in between all of these cargo canisters over here. It’s a sonic shower. This big one in the cargo bay is in case of chemical spills.”

Having finished her shower, Seven took a step out of the unit and reached for her clothing.

“Whoa now, what is this?” A voice crowed.

“It looks like a woman’s garment of some kind.”

“What, you want to trade for that?”

“Of course not, shut up! What is it doing here?”

“Whoa now, what do we have here! I think I solved your mystery!”

“Wow, how much do we have to trade for her?”

The three individuals made their way around the sonic shower, and now saw where Seven was standing, largely undressed.

“You will give me that garment,” She said, glaring at them, hands at her sides.

They whistled and laughed in excitement.

“Hey now, a firecracker, just my type!”

They were looking Seven’s body over, up and down, in a way that made her strangely uncomfortable.

She reached out and pulled the garment right out of the Talaxian trader’s hands, and began putting it back on in preparation for her cycle.

They hooted and elbowed each other in the ribs.

“I can’t believe we get this for free!” One of them said.

“Hey now honey, no need to do that just yet, we can have a lot of fun together!”

“I don’t think so,” Seven said, and the other two laughed and said something about him being put in his place.

The Talaxian reached forward and grabbed her arm, preventing her from finishing the process of putting the garment on. He had green fur coming out of his head.

“Well, I’ll just have to be more convincing then, won’t I?” He said with a leering grin.

Seven merely took a step back, behind the crates, which caused the trader to take a step forward, knocking over the empty crates with his hand, and exposing the situation to the front door.

Before Seven could react to this, a small woman walked in.

“What’s going on in here? I thought I heard a commotion while I was walking by, and-“

Kes saw Seven and her mouth dropped open. Seven took the opportunity to finish putting on the top of her garment and disengage from the Talaxiabs grip.

When Kes saw that the ex-Borg woman had been unclothed, her face started turning red.

“What are you doing in here! What’s going on? Get away from her!” Kes shouted.

“The babes never stop, do they?” One of the other men said, leering at Kes now. 

“Come on, baby, why not join the fun?” Green Fur took a step towards Kes, who was walking quickly toward Seven now.

The trader put out his arm as if to grab at Kes as well.

“Don’t think because I’m little, I can’t take you apart,” Kes said, gesturing with one hand. A little glow appeared in that hand, and in the air in front of her, and suddenly a wind began to pick up, sourceless.

The Talaxian merchant, colorful green fur on his whole head, widened his eyes as he was lifted off the ground for apparently no reason at all.

Except, of course, for the fact that a little blonde woman with short pixie hair was clenching her fist, glowering at him, and illuminating the entire cargo bay with little lights that twinkled all around her.

“OK, OK, no offense no offense!” The man said, tumbling end over end helplessly.

“No offense? Why did you go all the way to the back just to stare at Seven showering? Do you have any shame at all?” Kes asked, noticing the sonic shower now.

“Explain,” Seven said.

Kes gave Seven a rundown of what the men had been doing and why.

“So it was no accident,” Seven said, looking over at Kes. “This one sought to please himself sexually by looking at me?”

“Many cultures use the…dissipation of privacy as an invitation for sexual arousal,” Kes said through her clenched jaw.

The Talaxiabs were all claiming their lack of offense, as some kind of bright white and purple glow began to surround them, and a personal whirlwind for each made them float helplessly in the air.

“I see. Somehow, everyone on this ship neglected to tell me this. I do not accept your lack of offense,” Seven said, turning toward the men. “You sought to use and embarrass me due to my lack of knowledge. Apologize.”

Kes had never seen three men yell out apologies that fast in her entire life.

“It is… OK,” Seven said, walking behind Kes and hovering a hand over her shoulder until Kes nodded, causing Seven to put her hand there.

“I do not wish them harmed. They have apologized. You will all also honor your trade agreement, correct?”

“Of course, of course,” The three said. They had one solid color of fur on each of their heads, unlike Neelix who had a mix in his fur, and Kes had already begun to think of them as Green, Red and Blue. Reluctantly, Kes set them each down. Where before they had been carefully selecting from the possible pile of trades as well as everything else in the room, now they each grabbed a couple of items from the pile in a rush, and then raced off toward a door that led to the shuttle bay and their ship.

“But it’s not OK. Since when do you sleep in the cargo bay? That’s horrible!” Kes said. Her mouth was agape and she put a hand over it to cover it up.

“It did not seem to matter, before. “ Seven straightened up a bit, almost as if she were covering embarrassment. “My equipment for my regeneration cycle is here,” She said.

If Kes didn’t know better, she would say that Seven sounded almost sheepish.

“I also do not wish for you to jeopardize your position here, especially on my account,” Seven said, gesturing to Kes and her hands, which were still glowing with white and purple light.

“Right,” She said, sitting down. Her eyes started rolling back into her head then.

**

Next thing Kes knew, she was waking up with Seven and the Doctor looking down at her.

“I’m sorry Doctor,” Kes said immediately. “I didn’t really lose control; I only wanted to scare those terrible men a bit.”

“Well, you certainly accomplished that much,” The Doctor said wryly. “We had to watch through a security device from the cargo bay ourselves to even figure out what happened after those Talaxiabs flew away from here at quite a rapid speed, to put it mildly.”

He raised an eyebrow, as if finding the situation at least a little amusing. Then he turned back to his medical scanner.

“You also appear to have had some kind of event medically, and I admit I have no idea what it was. It looks like every neuron in your brain lit up at the same time. Normally, that would lead to another event, namely your death. I admit I’m quite perturbed that I don’t understand this. Not to worry though! With a few more scans-“

Immediately Kes was on her feet.

“Later, Doctor, I promise. There’s something I need to do first.”

Kes then marched right out of the room over everyone’s protests and headed straight to the bridge.

I wonder if I could just teleport right there, she thought. Probably, but I’d probably blow half of it up too.

All eyes were on her as she walked by the bridge and towards Janeway’s room, but she didn’t care.

Janeway let her in right away.

“Kes, I heard you had quite an adventure earlier, maybe we need to talk about-“

The door closed behind Kes, but she didn’t sit down.

She held up a hand.

“Whatever you’re about to say, captain, you’re right. I was more reckless than I should’ve been, but I never lost control, and you didn’t lose any trade. As for future trade, do you really fear the loss of trade from those three Talaxiabs, given how obviously dishonest they are?”

Before Janeway could answer, Kes pushed on.

“I just have one question for you, the thing that made me push things too far. Why is Seven living in a cargo bay?”

Janeway spread her hands.

“Kes, it’s what she wanted. Her equipment is large and wouldn’t fit-“

“She was a Borg for decades! She didn’t even realize that men would try to look at her naked when she was showering! In the cargo bay!”

Janeway took a look at Kes, whose eyes were flashing and whose chest was heaving up and down with rage.

The captain took a breath herself and thought better than arguing.

This is hardly my fault, Janeway thought. How can I honor Seven’s wishes but also give her commands? Still, Kes has a point.

“I take it you have a suggestion?”

“Yes. Have her regeneration equipment moved to my room. I don’t care if it takes up most of the space. I don’t need much. Perks of being little.”

Janeway resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“Kes, the equipment is huge. The cargo bay is better suited for the energy and technological requirements of-“

“Then take the replicator out of the wall! I’ll just use one in an empty room! This is the most technologically advanced ship I’ve ever seen. One of the most advanced ships in the whole of the Delta Quadrant! You’re telling me that you can’t move one bunk bed into it?”

“The equipment required is hardly-”

Kes’ eyes flashed again and Janeway let out another sigh, gauging the situation. Was it really worth a fight? The situation with Seven’s living arrangements had always been awkward. Maybe this would be a good solution for now.

“But- why not give Seven her own quarters?” Janeway asked. “If you truly want her to be independent?”

“What, so you can put a viewing window in it?” Kes said sarcastically. “So that you can move her into the holodeck where everyone can leer at her and not just Talaxian traders? Maybe you can set up a bed in Main Engineering? Or just tie her to a wall next to the viewscreen?”

“Kes, I have to say, I don’t appreciate that you-“

Janeway saw Kes’ expression, and the way purple light was gathering in her eyes again and decided to de-escalate.

“Alright, alright. I surrender. If that’s what Seven wants, I’ll talk to B’Elanna and something can be arranged.”

Kes stared at her for a second, as if she couldn’t even really hear what the other woman was saying or believe that Janeway was agreeing with her.

The smaller woman sat down and took a breath.

“I’m sorry captain; I didn’t mean to get that mad.”

“It’s OK Kes, just try not to break anything, OK? It’s a strange situation.”

“Yes, Captain, I promise. This bothers me more than I thought it would. More than what makes sense.”

“The departure of, Mr. Neelix, has all of us on edge. Just, try to believe that I’m on your side, and on Seven’s, OK?”

“Yes captain, of course. I promise.” And with that, Kes left, still showing a dazed expression on her face.

After she was gone, Janeway let her face hit her desk, putting her hands on top of her head.

“Between Borg women, Talaxian traders, and angry psychics, I don’t know how I can keep doing this,” she said, to the empty air.

**

“I do not understand, why can I not remain in my place in the cargo bay?” Seven said when Kes went to find her.

“Do you want more people staring at you? You’re a person! You deserve a room, like everybody else!”

“Your room,” Seven said, by way of inquiry.

“It was just an idea,” Kes said quickly, looking down. “It’s a big room, because it used to belong to Neelix and me, but I just figured I could help a little, in case there was anything else that no one is telling you.”

Seven considered this for a moment, quietly.

“This wasn’t very much of a small thing, Seven,” Kes said, urgently. “They let you live in a cargo bay for months, like, like a dog! Just because you haven’t learned what’s normal yet! Let me be your guide to normal.”

“Normal is irrelevant,” Seven said immediately.

Kes had to smile at that.

“Normal can be overrated, yes. What I mean is, there are a lot of rules to how society here works, and The Doctor and Janeway they-“

“They have been guiding me,” Seven said.

“Sure, but-“She lifted her head a bit in the cargo bay where she’d found Seven, predictably. The little woman’s eyes moved back and forth a bit, staring at a moving point over Seven’s head, straining for the right words.

“They are really busy,” She said, generously. “They have been making oversights. It’s not just those Talaxiabs either. No one stands up for you! You lived through a horrendous event that most of us can’t even imagine! Yet, well- I’m just going to say it- Many of these people are mean to you! They act like you miss things just to annoy them! It’s outrageous, to tell you the truth.”

“You seem quite distressed about this.”

“I am!”

“Why.” Seven somehow made it sound like more of a command then a question.

“I don’t know! It just bothers me. Doesn’t it bother you?”

Seven thought about it again.

“Yes. I simply thought that I am damaged and ill-suited to this crew, and therefore they would need to correct me.”

“See! This is the problem. Many of them aren’t trying to hurt you, but they have their own agendas. They seek what they want without considering your side of it.”

“Like those Talaxiabs,” Seven said.

“Exactly! But they aren’t the only ones doing it! I’ve heard the rumors, B’Elanna screaming at you, Harry hitting on you, after you barely even just got here, and-“

“What is your- agenda?,” Seven asked.

“What?” Kes said, knocked off her train of thought a bit.

“You said that others have their own agendas, other than simply helping me. I wish to know what your agenda is.”

“Well,” Kes said, thinking rapidly again. “I’m not saying they didn’t want to help, but they get distracted. The Doctor, he’s a great… man, but he gets caught up in his own greatness sometimes, and Harry- he”

“I am not asking about them. I am asking about you. Answer my question. Please.”

Kes took a breath.

“I don’t know,” She said. “The way they treat you. It bothers me. I want to stop it. I don’t know why.”

Seven nodded once.

“I do not believe anyone else has ever told me that they don’t know why they are doing something since I arrived here. I believe you to be honest.”

Kes smiled and turned away a bit, trying not to blush.

“Perhaps we will discover the reason together,” Seven said.

Kes continued to look away, a puzzle Seven decided to save for later before inquiring.

“Very well. You will tell me about social rules that others have…failed to inform me about.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to push you, I just got caught up since you were sitting there naked in the cargo bay, and no one even bothered to-“

“Yes. I am sure. I did not realize that nakedness held the implications that it does on this crew, nor that people consider individual privacy a sign of respect. Regardless of why, clearly my teachers are failing in this area of current socialization practices.”

“OK, great! I’ll tell Janeway, and we’ll get your equipment installed, and we can even set up extra privacy for your side of the room! I don’t need that much, you can even take up most of it-“

“No, that will not be necessary. I wish to keep the room’s resources evenly distributed. I will assist B’elanna in making the proper transference. If I had elected to live in my own quarters, it is clear that I would miss things. This is the most efficient and cautious course of action. You have my gratitude. Goodbye. For a brief time.”

Seven didn’t notice, but Kes couldn’t keep herself from blushing until well after Seven had left the room. 

What was wrong with her? 

She’d done the right thing. She had nothing to be embarrassed about.

Kes was going to have to keep a close eye on Seven though, and possibly even speak to the captain again if people kept treating her like she was a doll they could play dress-up with and then discard in the cargo bay.

Why was she so mad? Why was she shaking?

“Seven isn’t the only one who’s missing something,” she said aloud. Mostly to herself.


End file.
